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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: While gambling centre Reno, Nevada, USA, played by candle-light, Aug 23 forest fires pulled down power lines to 14 other cities and crept northwards along the mountain spine of California and parts of Nevada. 70,000 acres of thick timber country are ablaze. Damage is estimated at 4-million dollars.

Fires have centred on two areas - Donner Lake Ridge and Forest Hills, 30 miles away. 3,000 volunteers, including serviceman and Indians, are fighting to hold the Donner Lake fire within a 70 mile perimeter. The Forest Hills' blaze is contained within a 45 mile circumference by about 2,20 volunteers.

Deer and other wildlife have perished, and rangers have in hand an immediate re-forestation plan. Overhead planes and helicopters bomb the blackened earth with rye grass and mustard seed, hoping the seeds will quickly root and hold the soil before autumnal rains bring floods and erosion.

Nebraska and South Dakota have also fallen victim to these raging fires, but nowhere as much land area is involved as in California and Nevada.